Iran threatens to target U.S. bases in the Middle East

Iran has now warned that American military bases in the region could also become targets as the conflict expands.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Israel of initiating a war, while senior Iranian military officials signaled that retaliation would continue. 

According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, citing a senior military official, "the conflict will spread to American bases in the coming days." 

The official added that "the aggressors will be the target of Iran’s decisive and extensive response."

The latest warnings come after Israel carried out a major overnight air operation targeting key military sites inside Iran. According to the IDF, dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets flew more than 1,500 kilometers into Iranian airspace, striking dozens of targets in the Tehran area, including surface-to-air missile systems and air defense infrastructure. The operation aimed to degrade Iran’s ability to defend its airspace and limit further retaliatory capabilities.

In response, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles toward central and northern Israel. According to the IDF, close to 100 ballistic missiles were fired in the initial waves directly from Iranian territory, marking one of the most significant direct attacks by Iran against Israel to date.

However, according to a report in The New York Times, Iran had originally intended to launch a much larger attack of around 1,000 ballistic missiles. The American newspaper, citing two sources within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, reported that Iran was unable to execute this plan due to the damage inflicted by Israeli strikes on its missile bases. As a result, Iran launched only about 100 missiles in each of the first barrages.